Brean tourist business owners have expressed concern at plans by EDF to take over Pontins holiday park for three years for Hinkley Point workers.
They say thousands of tourists will no longer visit the village, taking away vital trade, if the Pontins site is closed and turned into accommodation for around 900 Hinkley workers.
The proposals by EDF Energy were first reported here by Burnham-On-Sea.com and since then formal plans have been submitted to Sedgemoor District Council.
EDF says it hopes to undertake a multi-million pound refit of the Brean Pontins holiday park to ensure the accommodation is the right quality for its workers – and then hand it back to Pontins owner Britannia Hotels in three years’ time to be returned for tourism use.
However, members of Discover Brean, a tourism marketing organisation in Brean, have called for a full economic assessment to be undertaken to gauge the negative impact on small tourism businesses such as shops, pubs and food retailers.
A spokesperson for the group says: “Brean is the second largest holiday caravan destination in the UK after Skegness. The amount that the holiday guests generate for the local economy including both Burnham and further afield is staggering.”
“Brean Pontins is the largest single bed provider in the village and has a huge positive impact on the local economy. Whilst a camp full of workers will have benefits for some local businesses it will not be a positive impact overall and will no doubt effect the experience of other holiday guests visiting other sites in the area.”
“When full, Pontins can accommodate around 3,000 guests and these mainly stay for short breaks of 3 or 4 nights meaning that there are around 6,000 unique visitors each week.”
“Whilst we do not have access to exact spending figures we would estimate that each guest probably spends at least £150 outside of the camp during their stay equating to £900,000 per week into the local economy and most likely it’s a higher figure.”
“We are shocked that after EDF investing so much money in the Hinkley Point Action Partnership to protect and promote tourism in the area that they are now seeking to do the opposite. Brean is a family holiday destination with facilities that have been developed for this market, construction workers and holiday guests will not mix.”
“Businesses in Brean have been evolving and developing in line with market trends which has seen the steady expansion and reinvestment which is more than can be said for many seaside resorts across the country, if this proposal comes to fruition then that will change dramatically and have a knock on effect meaning less visitors to the area in future and a destination which cannot evolve and compete with the fast paced change of consumer demand.”
“Many businesses in Brean have worked tirelessly for generations to provide magical holiday experiences for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, this could be about to be undone.”
Andrew Cockcroft, senior manager for community relations at Hinkley Point C, has responded to the concerns, telling Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are continuing to develop our proposals for the use of the Brean Pontins site and have been meeting directly with the local community and businesses to better understand the potential challenges and where our own workforce can add economic value outside of the main holiday season.”
“Limiting impact and maximising local opportunity are really important to us at Hinkley Point C and we are looking at ways in which we can directly support local businesses and the wider community as changes occur.”
“It’s also important to look further ahead, where our multi-million pound investment into the site can provide much longer-term benefits.”
